Builds Trash truck .... a diary and build thread (1 Viewer)

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Did you check price for a Magnaflow cat?
I did this weekend. A local cruiser guy works at a place that can get them. A lot of outlets are not sending 49-state cats to Colorado anymore.
 
After reading a whole bunch of build threads I realized I had never done one. Seems like a rite of passage for Mud folks. So I'm gonna start jotting stuff down here, post some pictures, talk about all the ideas I've ripped off from this forum to keep the truck running. I don't know where this is going, but I'm doing it anyway.

Here's the thing .... My truck is kind of a piece of s*** but I still daily drive it anyway. This was somebody else's trash they were throwing away and I picked it up. I don't know if it's worth writing about and nobody asked for this. The repairs and modifications come in fits and starts, when I have the time, when I have the money, when it's an emergency. It doesn't seem very exciting to anybody but me. I become consumed with thinking about vacuum lines or electrical schematics or the air/fuel gauge readings vis-a-vis my latest carb tune. Really, it seems pretty insane to be so committed to something that causes me undue anxiety and that I'll never recoup any money on. I lose sleep over a goddam truck. What have I become? I'm almost 40, is this a midlife crisis? I've wanted one of these since I was about 15 so maybe it's just bad timing.

So why write about it? Maybe I do this rite of passage thing and see what's on the other side. I don't really know. Mostly I think I just need to get it all off my chest. There's such joy - and also fear - in where I've been with this truck, emotionally. If I shout it into the ether maybe I can go back to how I felt in my normal, pre-Cruiser life. Probably not though.

Case in point: I've had this truck since February 2020. I now own two other antiquated Land Cruisers. The money was out the door before I thought about it. "Oops, I have another truck"
(Both are for sale, ask me about them)

So what did I get myself into? I drove a sensible 2002 single cab 2.7/5spd Tacoma for 14 years. It had become far too small for a single dad, two kids, and a dog - and then I met the love of my life. Within 20 hours on Craigslist I dumped it and took the cash directly to a guy's house the next day to buy a Land Cruiser. I had been looking at 2nd or 3rd gen 4Runners because I knew them - I had a 94 when I was married, and aside from my former in-laws absolute disgust at the truck, I loved it and learned things from it. But the Land Cruiser popped up for sale. I saw it on a whim and was sold.

I told myself the rust was fixable, but I didn't know the first thing about rust repair. I didn't look at the frame before I bought it. Power choked out around 1800rpm on the test drive. I didn't care. The bad single stage repaint looked "fine" to me. 3rd gear was notchy, but I figured it would "sort itself out". It was loud and smelly. I didn't know how to turn a wrench beyond basic tune ups and suspension work. The price was right though ... or was it? I'm still not sure.

Here's the first picture I took of it. My son and I had picked it up about 15 minutes prior. I was more innocent then.

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Nice fkin $30 LED lights from the parts store, eh? We'll unravel some previous owner stuff later.....
you get an emphatic thumbs up bro! for that intro paragraph :)
 
Still cold starting rough. I think something metal is damaged, creating a huge vacuum leak, then expanding and sealing itself once the truck is warm. @HemiAlex votes for intake manifold being cracked. FWIW, I do have a heat riser block off plate installed.

Anyway, other news .... picked up this alternator today. 65A 3FE alt guts inside of a 2F alt housing, with a new regulator on top. I took two spares I had to this old shop and let the guy have at it. Nice of him to paint it for me.

When I install it (maybe today), I'm going to also install a 4awg cable from B+ to Battery+, with an 80A maxi fuse in the middle. Stock, the alt charge wire is something like 16awg and passes through the even smaller fusible link. Not a very efficient way of getting positive current flow from the alt to battery, what with all the wire resistance and all.

The alternator shop guy gave the seal of approval on this. If you'd seen him, you would trust him took. Old school shop and it looks like he'a been doing the work for 40+ years. Wall to wall, floor to ceiling starters and alternators - that's all he does and probably all he ever has done. He even had a Denso sign next to the front door.


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I also had the seats cleaned by a mobile detailer yesterday. A steam cleaner is not a tool I own or desire to own. The brush attachment for a drill was pretty neat though and I probably would have gotten a lot of mileage out of that. I took a chance hitting up a guy advertising on Facebook who had a cheap price - he turned put to be ok and not an axe murderer. Here's some before and after photos.

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View attachment 2810367View attachment 2810369View attachment 2810370View attachment 2810365I also had the seats cleaned by a mobile detailer yesterday. A steam cleaner is not a tool I own or desire to own. The brush attachment for a drill was pretty neat though and I probably would have gotten a lot of mileage out of that. I took a chance hitting up a guy advertising on Facebook who had a cheap price - he turned put to be ok and not an axe murderer. Here's some before and after photos.

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Great to know about D&D. I need to get my alternator reworked as well. Next time I am down on the Front Range I will have to swing in.
 
Awesome story bro. Yours sounds so much like mine and others on this form. Never-ending love hate battle. Can't remember how many times my FJ62 was listed on here, Facebook market, and Craigslist list. Still have it smh....
 
Been a while .... The truck has been running pretty well, but I'm still forever going into the cycle of "if I replace this, I could replace that ... how deep should I go??" and "blue-collar single dad in an expensive metropolis doesn't have funds to go all the way". So I do what I can and hope for the best. Here's some random fall/early winter photos. More below pertaining to the head replacement job I'll be embarking on soon - I'll write either today or tomorrow.


Trail Tailor sliders I was gifted for finding a local guy's stolen 60. Insurance totaled the truck out and gave him a nice check, and he swiped the sliders for me. It was a nice surprise. @TRAIL TAILOR was nice enough to send me out some missing hardware real quick and at low cost so I could get them installed. Top-shelf service, especially since I didn't even buy the sliders from him.
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Went back to Ohio this fall for a quick trip. Got to see the parts 60 I bought sight unseen and stored behind my dad's office. Frame is toast, otherwise there's lots of good parts. Anybody want this thing?
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Still got the Pig, despite trying to sell it for months. Anybody want this thing, too? I lack both time and money to do it justice, and I need to focus my limited resources on the daily driver 60. I feel bad camping out on this truck.
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Went to get an Xmas tree in the mountains above Ft. Collins. That was a nice day. Got this full-sized Surco brand rack used for cheap - never heard of them before - and it's working out pretty well. Definitely not in the same class as a Gamiviti or something, but it'll do.
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Did a very cold New Year's Day run out on the plains. Lots of old ghost towns out there that are about ready to shrivel up and blow away.
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My daughter is 9 and my son is 13 and I try to involve them here and there. Neither really cares that much for antiquated vehicle repair though. I keep telling my son he and his buddies are going to be 16 soon and his interest in cars will come soon enough - and if he has some repair skills he's gonna be the kid that all the other kids are asking for advice. As it stands his classmates call me "the hippie" behind my back, apparently solely based on the fact that I drive an old truck. I feel for kids these days, they have no idea what a hippie is haha.

As for the orange text, you're on your own there. I barely understand this low-tech truck, let alone some computer wizardry.
 
I also went in on a shop with a couple folks, so there's that. IT'S HEATED!

(Not my Chevy Tiger, but it's a cool truck anyway)

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Ok, so driving an unknown engine around every day will wear on your nerves. "What's that smoke out of the tailpipe? What's THAT noise?? What if my vacuum and compression numbers should be higher? Is there a time bomb under the hood? Does everyone else's 2F run like this? Maybe 60s normally drive way better." Most days I quiet those voices when I'm driving, but sometimes I can't and that's no fun. So I've decided to replace the head on my 2F. Here goes nothing.

Compression test below, yes it looks like rings would be a good idea, but no I can't pull the block out of a daily driver to have it serviced. Sorry 🤷‍♂️
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Seeing as my compression numbers are between 125-143 and have gone down a little over the past year (129-145), and since I have a puff of white smoke from the tailpipe every time after idling - even for two seconds at a stop sign - AND because my exhaust smells distinctly like what you'd expect burning coolant to smell like ... I think I have a head gasket leak. Who am I kidding, mostly I'm paranoid. Blackstone found zero trace of coolant in my oil. I also think I'd see some better drivability and POWER from a fresh and clean head. Yes, huge POWER numbers coming soon haha. At the end of the day, I don't think a refreshed head can hurt anything.

Check the insides of my cylinders - lovely, huh?
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As always, because I daily drive this thing I have to streamline the work. That meant I found a spare head. It's already at the machine shop. The goal, in my world, is always to swap s***. I have a spare manifold set that I will build and have machined, too. Swap everything. I've never gone this far on an engine before so I ought to be able to pull it off in a weekend, right? 🤣

Here's the head I picked up. Looks clean, hopefully no cracks 🤞
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I'm getting kind of nutty about the whole project though. I'm considering ordering ALL new OEM hardware - every stud, nut, bolt, washer for the head and manifolds. That alone will cost as much as the bill from the machine shop, and hey ... what was I saying about the blue-collar budget again? Some of it will get pared away as I get closer to swap weekend.

Page one (of two) of a potential shopping list:
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Here's where I need feedback:
1. New head bolts or no? OEM runs $120.
2. New pushrods? Why not swap em while I'm in there? $210 for OEM. Yikes.
3. What exhaust valves should I get? OEM will run $155. The machine shop - who has lots of 2F experience - typically uses SP or SB or something, no clue on cost.
4. I'll be replacing the thermostat and associated gaskets and the fan clutch (I happen to have a new Aisin one on hand already) while I'm in there. What else?
5. This f**king EGR J-pipe ... what's the true solution here? I've done the manifold gasket twice on this thing and the J tube leaks on both sides every time. I can watch puffs of smoke come out of the j-pipe to EGR cooler junction in time with the cylinders firing. Since I'm pulling the manifolds I may as well attempt something different here. I HAVE to be smogged where I live.
6. How far should I deck the head? 0.030 to 0.060 are the suggestions I'm reading about. I'm ok running 89 gas but don't really want to move to 91 unless it's gonna be life changing. No I'm not getting a new cam, not for the foreseable future any way.
7. Should I DIY port the intake or exhaust manifold? Should I DIY a gasket match job? I'm not paying the machine shop to do that.

Notes: Jim C rebuilt carb, brand new carb insulator plate
 
My daughter is 9 and my son is 13 and I try to involve them here and there. Neither really cares that much for antiquated vehicle repair though. I keep telling my son he and his buddies are going to be 16 soon and his interest in cars will come soon enough - and if he has some repair skills he's gonna be the kid that all the other kids are asking for advice. As it stands his classmates call me "the hippie" behind my back, apparently solely based on the fact that I drive an old truck. I feel for kids these days, they have no idea what a hippie is haha.

As for the orange text, you're on your own there. I barely understand this low-tech truck, let alone some computer wizardry.
ok, the daughter i can understand, but the young sir, not so much. h3ll, at his age i bought my 1st car
too bad you're not regarded as the cool dad with cool old $h!T by your boy's friends. thankfully my nephews filled that role for me. fawk it, wear the "hippie" moniker with pride 😤
regarding the computer wizardry. i figured a young buck would know way more than the crusty old fawk :flipoff2:
 
Still cold starting rough. I think something metal is damaged, creating a huge vacuum leak, then expanding and sealing itself once the truck is warm. @HemiAlex votes for intake manifold being cracked. FWIW, I do have a heat riser block off plate installed.

Anyway, other news .... picked up this alternator today. 65A 3FE alt guts inside of a 2F alt housing, with a new regulator on top. I took two spares I had to this old shop and let the guy have at it. Nice of him to paint it for me.

When I install it (maybe today), I'm going to also install a 4awg cable from B+ to Battery+, with an 80A maxi fuse in the middle. Stock, the alt charge wire is something like 16awg and passes through the even smaller fusible link. Not a very efficient way of getting positive current flow from the alt to battery, what with all the wire resistance and all.

The alternator shop guy gave the seal of approval on this. If you'd seen him, you would trust him took. Old school shop and it looks like he'a been doing the work for 40+ years. Wall to wall, floor to ceiling starters and alternators - that's all he does and probably all he ever has done. He even had a Denso sign next to the front door.


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I like D&D!
 
@kirvesmies Both kids think the truck is "cool", but that's not enough for them to help out. I did force my son to help me change the window regulator today, which he did without much complaint. I now have the luxury of rolling my window up and down with ease, no grinding gears. I feel like a king.

I get it though. My dad has always been a golfer and when I was young he would make me play. He forced me to participate in tournaments and on the high school team. I was pretty good but it was never something I loved. I wish I was encouraged to take my own path. At least vehicle repair and maintenance is a lifelong useful skill, so that's different than golf. My kids haven't really zeroed in on a life passion yet so we'll see how that shakes out during the teenage years.
 
I like D&D!
I recognize this handle from the Rising Sun forum 🙂

I'm sure we've met at a meeting or something. I'm Jim, I drive the crappy rust box pictured above haha
 
Update on the alternator wiring project - totally forgot about that:

Major success. I'm up almost 1 volt at idle (13.5 vs 12.9) and up 1/2 volt when running (~14). My headlights barely dim at idle, and the rpms only drop by ~50 at idle when I have everything on (headlights, 200w aux lights, wipers, heater fan, etc). I would definitely suggest upping the wiring gauge and putting an 80A fuse in line.

I went deep on that project. Because I didn't want another inline fuse dangling around in the engine bay, I got a nice fuse block. I figured I could use it to house my Koito headlight fuses and the fuses for my 8" PIAA lights. But there's not a great spot to mount a fuse block. So I re-learned CAD (hadn't touched it since college circa 2002), and designed a bracket. One dimension was slightly off but I was able to make it work. I'd like to tweak the design and offer it for sale if anybody's interested.

Obviously it's big. I'm going to install a relay block too. You could use this for dual battery or solar stuff. I think a lot of 60s have gadgets in this location already though. And of course the air cleaner on a 62 interferes. Works for me though.
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I recognize this handle from the Rising Sun forum 🙂

I'm sure we've met at a meeting or something. I'm Jim, I drive the crappy rust box pictured above haha
Yep, don’t think we’ve met in person as I haven’t been around in person for quite some time. And I’m not much of a 60 guy but your story reminded me of when my dad and I were hunting for cruisers when I was maybe 16-17 and test drove a 60 that I think we almost bought. Ended up with a 40 that has needed a lot of work over the years, among which was an alternator that I took to D&D about 15 years ago…
 
Great thread, keep the updates coming, especially on the new head. For your questions in post #33, tagging @OSS and @Spike Strip who know their way around a 2F engine bay and are quick to help out. Plenty of us have learned lots from these two gents.
 

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